Leland sign amortization approved

Thursday

Mar 21, 2013 at 8:49 PM

A five-year amortization period passed with a 3-2 vote

By Adam WagnerAdam.Wagner@StarNewsOnline.com

After being continued for two town council meetings and discussed at a sometimes-contentious special meeting, no business owners or residents spoke for or against Leland’s sign amortization at the meeting it was finally voted on.A five-year amortization period passed with a 3-2 vote, with Martha Currie and Jane Crowder voting nay, but because of the narrow majority town council hasn’t heard the last of the matter.According to town rules, any vote with less than a three-fourths majority must be read again, and one council member said she would like to tweak the five-year period.“Why can’t we go to seven years?” Currie asked, adding that she plans to amend the ordinance next month with a seven-year amortization period.The ordinance would shrink and lower signs throughout Leland, with the permissible height and size depending on an establishment’s zoning.Council also directed staff to continue exploring an incentive program that would help offset business’ costs of replacing their signs. If a business chose to replace a sign in its first year of eligibility, its cost would be offset by 25 percent not exceeding a total amount of $5,000. Each year after that, the percent would fall by 5 percent and the total amount would fall by $1,000, with all businesses needing to come into compliance within five years. Town council also took a couple of actions concerning the Cape Fear Skyway project.The first asked to expand the environmental study area about four miles so that a crossing between Independence Boulevard in Wilmington could cross the Cape Fear, come below Town Creek and into the Bell Swamp area.“We were told the study area cannot be expanded, but the corridor we’ve identified meets all the criteria they’ve previously identified without dissecting Leland,” said Pat Batleman, a town councilwoman and the town’s representative on the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Advisory Committee.In addition, Town Council passed an ordinance supporting Senate Bill 10 and House Bill 134, which would remove the Cape Fear Skyway project from statute.Leland also plans to ask the Federal Highway Association, N.C. Department of Transportation and WMPO if the voting structure of the TAC can be altered to reflect the members’ populations, possibly giving the town a louder voice on the committee.“We are fast approaching 15,000 population which is more than quite a few other members of the TAC put together and given that we are in a pretty strategic spot over here, we thinks it’s time to have that looked at,” Batleman said.